Postcards From Italy
by TheHappyBroccoli
Summary: AU. Piper goes and visits Polly in Italy. She meets a gorgeous travel blogger on the way.
1. Chapter 1

I'm always dumbfounded when people tell me they hate flying, to me flying has always felt like the build up to a new experience, it's exciting. I'm standing in the airport check-in line jittering at the prospect of a new adventure. To call it an adventure is probably a bit much, I'm just visiting my friend Polly in Italy. She's in Milan on a student exchange programme, we have a pre-planned tour we are going on during the summer vacation.

"Next please!" The lady at the baggage counter snaps me out of my daydream. I walk up to the counter, place my bag on the conveyer belt, and hand her my ticket and passport. She goes through the motions of checking me in and tagging my luggage. I'm handed a boarding pass and directed to the security clearance.

I put my handbag through the scanner and walk through the metal detector. I know I have nothing to hide, but I always feel an irrational sense of fear at this stage of the airport process. My anxiety doubles when the security guard stops me and asks me to hand my bag over, he pulls out a small foil balloon emblazoned with the words "Bon Voyage", there's a small vibrator tied to the other end of the ribbon. He glares at the offending item, glares at me and then stuffs it back into my bag. I have gone from being nervous to being mortified, my roommate Nicky must have shoved it in my bag in the way to the airport. I am going to kill her.

The rest of the wait at the airport goes off without further incident, I meander around the duty free until I have to board and then sit and read my book near the gate I am boarding at. The boarding call eventually happens and the invariable mad rush to the gate. I decide to read a bit longer until the line to board gets shorter. As I finish the chapter I'm on, I notice that the line is getting shorter. I hand in my pass as I go through the gates and I get handed the stub from my boarding pass. After a walk down a passageway I arrive at the plane door, the airhostess at the entrance of the plane glances at my ticket and points me in the direction of my seat.

"Seat 24B, walk down the right aisle and your seat is in the middle of the aisle and window seat."

Fuck, I'm sitting between two strangers for 8 or more hours. I hope the person seated at the window isn't a serial pisser. When I get to row 24 and see the woman seated at the window my worries vanish, she's one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She smirks at me and I realise that I have staring at her for several seconds. I manage to get out an awkward, barely audible "hi". She chuckles to herself, greets me back and turns her attention back to her book. Her voice is husky and the sound of her greeting makes me go weak in the knees. I don't care how often she gets up in the next 8 hours, my worries are now whether or not I will be able to stop myself from blatantly staring at her for the entire flight.

I haphazardly throw my bag into the overhead compartment, and sit down before I can further embarrass myself. The aisle seat passenger eventually joins us, he's a nerdy-looking guy with curly brown hair. In fact, he's almost the spitting image of the kid from the American Pie movies. He gives the woman by the window and I a huge grin and extends his hand to either of us as he sits down.

"Hi, my name is Larry. What are yours?"

I reluctantly shake his hand and reply; "Hi, I'm Piper." The woman next to me glances up from her book, she looks at his hand, but doesn't take it and just responds "Alex" and goes back to reading.

"So, do you two know each other?" Larry asks as the plane starts to taxi towards the runway.

Great, I'm seated next to someone I can't look at and someone who can't shut up. I am suddenly beginning to understand why some people don't like flying.


	2. Chapter 2

_"So, do you two know each other?"_

Alex and I look at one another and then at Larry, both shaking our heads in response to his question. We are about to relax into our seats when Larry asks a follow-on question.

"Why are you headed to Italy? I'm meeting my parents there for a vacation."

"Same reason, I'm meeting a friend though. We're going on a tour." I respond. Alex simply responds with a short "For Work." I can't decide if her unwillingness to make small talk makes her charismatic or makes her an asshole.

"Oh great, what is it you do Alex?" Larry asks. He seems nice enough, albeit a bit bad at reading social cues.

"I write an international travel blog"

I can tell that Larry is about to bombard her with more questions. He's practically leaning over me to talk to Alex. We haven't even taken off yet and I'm already feeling claustrophobic.

"No way! I'm a writer too! I've just graduated with a degree in journalism. I am just waiting for my big break. You get to travel and write? That must be the best job ever! How did you get into travel writing? Did you study something specific?"

Alex's shoulders visibly slump at Larry's onslaught of questions. I'm not sure who I feel worse for; Alex, who wants no part in the conversation, or Larry who is trying to continue the conversation when Alex clearly doesn't want to.

Surprisingly enough, she answers him. "Yes, I enjoy my job. It does have its' lows too, flying for example. I got into travel writing because I cater to a specific group of readers. No, I didn't study anything."

I can tell Larry wants to ask her more, but he surprisingly responds with a few simple nods and sits back in his chair.

With that, the plane's engines start roaring and the plane hurtles down the runway for take-off and becomes airborne. There is a few moments silence amongst all the people on board as the plane climbs to the necessary altitude and eventually levels out. I love the swooping feeling that planes cause in your stomach when they level out. It reminds me of something, but I can't quite place the feeling. The closest thing I can think of is the feeling of the first drop on a roller coaster.

The plane becomes a hive of activity once the 'fasten seatbelt' lights go off. The low buzz of conversation resumes, and the flight attendants busy themselves with starting to serve diner. I feel someone touch me lightly on the arm, it's Alex. "Excuse me Piper and Harry, but may I please just get my laptop out of the overhead locker?"

"It's Larry"

Alex unsubtly rolls her eyes at Larry correcting her. "Ok Larry, may I please get my laptop?" she asks sarcastically.

Larry gets up with a huff and I follow him out the row of seats, allowing Alex to retrieve her bag from the overhead locker. She grabs her bag and we all sit back down in our seats. Larry seemingly can't resist getting in a jibe. "You do realise that dinner is about to be served, right?"

"Yes Barry, but getting it now is preferable to when you are asleep."

I feel a tinge of sympathy for Larry, but I also need to stifle a laugh when Alex intentionally gets Larry's name wrong. This is better entertainment than whatever the in-flight movie is.

An older flight attendant comes around shortly after. She has magenta hair and asks us all in what I think is a Russian accent: "Chicken or beef?"

I opt for the chicken, I find that chicken is generally a safer option. The few times I have chosen the beef on flights it has been questionable. The air is still tense after Larry and Alex's last interaction, so against my better judgement I decide to fill the silence with; "The food on aeroplanes is disgusting!"

Neither Alex or Larry react, but I earn a stern look from the red-haired flight attendant for my comment. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't offer me anything for the rest of the flight. I think I'm mostly being sympathetic towards Larry because I'm also not great in social situations.

Once the flight attendants have collected the trays the food was served on, Larry and I stow our trays away, but Alex gets out her laptop and starts typing away on what I imagine must be a blog entry on the worst people to sit next to on a trans-Atlantic flight.

Larry seems to have somehow forgotten their frosty pre-dinner interaction, because he asks her: "Are you writing for the blog?"

"Yes"

"May I read it?"

"No"

Alex then pulls a pair of earphones out of her bag and puts them on. Larry's eyes widen at this. He then turns to me and says: "She's a bit rude."

I say nothing but I give him a shrug. He continues with; "It's a pity, she's hot!"

 **AN: Hello and thank you to everyone who reviewed/faved/followed this story after reading the first chapter. I'm new to this site and this idea came to me so I decided to explore it. I'm very happy and flattered that some of you are enjoying it so far. I don't really have a fully-formed idea of where I am going with it, so there may be times when I take a while to update or post very short chapters. The title is inspired by a song by Beirut. I wouldn't say the song inspired the fic initially, but I have listened to it writing this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello everyone, I am so sorry that I was gone for so long. I did a bit of travelling myself, and I have been really busy in general. I also had a bit of a disaster the first time I wrote this chapter. I had finished it about 2 days ago, and then Word died on me as I was about to upload it. I couldn't recover the original version so I have had to rewrite it. I hope you enjoy it.**

"I agree with you there." The words leave my mouth before I can stop myself from saying them. Larry is visibly surprised, as if the idea of a woman finding another woman attractive is completely foreign to him. His eyebrows are raised so high that they have almost become one with his hair, and for the first time since taking off, he has gone silent.

I then shrug at him and say; "What? You said it first. I was just agreeing with you." This does nothing to get Larry out of his state of shock, so I leave him gaping at me and then get my book out of my bag which is under the seat in front of me. I lean back into my seat and open my book up on the first page. I read the first sentence and Larry suddenly exclaims; "So you're gay?!"

This startles me so much that I squeal, almost jump out my seat and my book flies out of my hands. Several people turn to look at me and I glare at Larry. "Sorry" he offers weakly. I sigh and say "It's ok". I then feel the person on my right nudging me and I turn to see Alex holding my book out to me. Somehow I had almost managed to forget she was sitting right next to me. She has a smirk plastered across her face. I manage a fairly confident "Thank you", but I can feel that my face is letting me down by turning bright red.

I turn my attention back to my book and decide that it's best that I keep a low profile for the remainder of the flight. I'm halfway through the first page, and finally starting to relax when Larry leans towards me and asks; "So, are you?"

"Let's just say I like hot people and leave it at that." I say. He gives a few slow nods in response. I'm still a bit annoyed with him for making me embarrass myself on the flight so I decide to get him back. "Do you like going on vacation with your parents?" I ask him loudly. He visibly blanches at the question. "I don't get given much choice, my mom won't let me go alone" he says sheepishly. I have to force myself not to completely burst out laughing, and opt for a more sympathetic approach. "You have to ask for permission? In your twenties?" I ask playfully. "Yes, she thinks someone will use me as a mule or something." He admits. I am starting to feel bad for him, I just meant to tease him a bit, not humiliate him. I give him a sympathetic smile and say; "Don't feel too bad, I had to basically beg before my mother would let me go visit my best friend. She was convinced I was going to go on a bender."

He finally gives me a genuine smile and says; "Thanks Piper, that does make me feel a lot better. I am very jealous that you get to enjoy your trip with your best friend though." He then unwraps his blanket from its plastic wrapping and throws it over himself. "It's been great talking to you Piper, but I'm going to try get a bit of sleep in. Good night!" "Good night Larry." I say. I start reading again, and he curls up into his seat. Soon the only sound around me is the hum of the jet engines and Alex typing away. I take a momentary glance at her(I say momentary glance- I may have been staring) have, and she looks up at me, I try look away and pretend I wasn't looking at her and she gives me another smirk and I feel myself go red all over again.

She looks back at her laptop screen and types something, she then nudges me and turns her laptop towards me, pointing to the screen. There's only one sentence in the document.

'Is this a bad time to say hi?'


End file.
